Child death case still on hold: Will justice ever come?

Cody Allen is currently housed in the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Department of Corrections where he is serving a life sentence for the murder of two-year-old Alithia Ivory Boyd.

In October of 2017, Allen entered a guilty plea and was placed in the prison system where he has since committed 23 major rule violations.

Allen was arrested May 3, 2016, by Flippin police and Marion County Sheriff's Office personnel in connection with the girl's injuries following an intense, 48-hour investigation. On May 1, police began the investigation into the girl's injuries after they received a call about an unresponsive child at Hillside Apartments in Flippin. Once on scene, they were told the girl fell down a set of stairs.

Cody Allen(Photo11: BCSO)

However, authorities said the injuries appeared to be too severe for that explanation. Flippin police were joined by investigators from the Marion County Sheriff's Office in processing the scene of the incident.

Alithia Boyd was taken by Air Evac to Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Mo. Several days later, she died as a result of her injuries.

Alithia's mother, 22-year-old Anastasia Weaver, was charged in September of 2016 with permitting child abuse and manslaughter in connection with Alithia's death.

Weaver has been out on bond awaiting trial for 18 months now.

That's a problem for the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts which oversees the state judicial system.

The AOC has a list of orders courts are expected to abide by, including one that directly impacts Weaver's case.

That order requires a case where the victim is under the age of 14 to be tried within nine months. If it isn't, the judge in the case is required to write a letter to the AOC explaining why the case has not been tried.

After that, for every 90 days that go by without the case being tried, the judge must again inform the AOC why the case has not moved forward.

In a letter dated Jan. 22 of this year, Circuit Court Judge John Putman outlined the delays in the case which originally had a trial date of Feb. 23, 2017.

Putman told the AOC the case was continued twice after the defense said they needed more time to prepare. A third defense motion asking for a delay was granted. This time, the defense said Cody Allen's case needed to be resolved before Weaver's case went to trial.

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Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge, left, announced during a press conference that his office had filed a capital murder charge against Cody Allen in connection with the the death of two-year-old Alithia Boyd. Flippin Police officer Dusty Smith, right, part of the team that investigated the crime, now stands accused of stealing more than $60,000 in government funds.(Photo11: Josh Dooley/The Baxter Bulletin)

The judge informed the AOC the case would be tried in February of this year. That didn't happen.

This time, prosecutors asked for a continuance. The defense motions for continuances are publicly available through electronic court records. The latest motion for a continuance, filed by prosecutors, is not available through electronic court records.

Justice complicated

Since she was arrested, Weaver's defense has received an unexpected gift. That same gift for the defense is a problem for the prosecutors, potentially a big one.

The gift for the defense comes in the form of the arrest of Ronald "Dusty" Smith, the former Flippin Police Chief.

Smith is charged with serious felonies and stands accused of stealing in excess of $60,000 of city government funds. Some of those stolen funds, according to paperwork handed over by public officials following a Freedom of Information Act request, came from a drug buy fund used to finance drug busts.

The former police chief was a primary officer involved in the investigation of Alithia's murder. Court records indicate Smith spoke with Weaver about the case on more than one occasion.

That means if Weaver's case were to go to trial, Smith's testimony would likely be an important part of the prosecution's case.

Even if the prosecution declined to put Smith on the stand, the defense could call him as a witness if they felt Smith's current legal troubles could cast a shadow on the prosecution's case.

According to the latest schedule filed electronically, Weaver is set to go trial on April 30. Currently, Smith is scheduled to go on trial on his theft charges May 4.

It would not be a surprise to see either the prosecution or the defense ask for yet another delay in the Weaver case as they may want to see what the outcome of the Smith case is, to determine strategy in the Weaver case.

In the prosecution's case, if Smith is found innocent at trial, a judge might very well prevent the defense from bringing up the charges against the former chief. That would bolster the state's case against Weaver.

If Smith were found guilty, the defense in the Weaver case could potentially use the verdict to taint the state's case against Weaver.

Whatever happens, final justice for two-year-old murder victim Alithia Ivory Boyd has yet to be achieved.